Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: edyvw
So, I yet to see tire manufacturer that will provide performance of winter tire in winter and performance of summer tire in summer, with good longevity in one tire.
You never will either, but alot of people never buy anything but mediocre all seasons and really don't care about warm weather handling other than wet traction. So a slightly tuned mediocre all season that can get the snow flake rating is a winner for them if they have to buy winter tires by law.
Hankook has the Optimo 4S which has a 600 wear rating and the snowflake at a decent price. I almost bought a set for the Tracker as it will be done in a couple years and I didn't want to buy two sets of tires for it. Dry handling is way down on the list of priorities for the Tracker, so I ended up with some new old stock X-ice's for it. I think they will last long enough, even used year round.
But point is, that traction is not all, or I would say, it is not number 1 problem. Problem is how to STOP on icy roads, snowy roads etc.
All cars that I saw this winter in accidents could not stop properly, or they lost lateral traction and ended up in a ditch. Those in ditch were usually AWD, mostly pick-up's.
I totally agree, for my all season use, the trickiest conditions are winter driving, so I figured the best compromise was just to run winter tires year round. I think alot of people who's tires age out, would be better off with just running some of the new winter/ice tires.
I am quite impressed with my yokohama ig52c's on the Focus, they seem to do everything better than the cooper starfire all season tires, probably with the exeception of wear. If I only drove 10k miles a year though, I might just keep on buying winter tires.
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: edyvw
So, I yet to see tire manufacturer that will provide performance of winter tire in winter and performance of summer tire in summer, with good longevity in one tire.
You never will either, but alot of people never buy anything but mediocre all seasons and really don't care about warm weather handling other than wet traction. So a slightly tuned mediocre all season that can get the snow flake rating is a winner for them if they have to buy winter tires by law.
Hankook has the Optimo 4S which has a 600 wear rating and the snowflake at a decent price. I almost bought a set for the Tracker as it will be done in a couple years and I didn't want to buy two sets of tires for it. Dry handling is way down on the list of priorities for the Tracker, so I ended up with some new old stock X-ice's for it. I think they will last long enough, even used year round.
But point is, that traction is not all, or I would say, it is not number 1 problem. Problem is how to STOP on icy roads, snowy roads etc.
All cars that I saw this winter in accidents could not stop properly, or they lost lateral traction and ended up in a ditch. Those in ditch were usually AWD, mostly pick-up's.
I totally agree, for my all season use, the trickiest conditions are winter driving, so I figured the best compromise was just to run winter tires year round. I think alot of people who's tires age out, would be better off with just running some of the new winter/ice tires.
I am quite impressed with my yokohama ig52c's on the Focus, they seem to do everything better than the cooper starfire all season tires, probably with the exeception of wear. If I only drove 10k miles a year though, I might just keep on buying winter tires.